Funkin Pumpkin Floral Arrangement

OKAY! So here goes, my first attempt at blogging a step-by-step for a craft I did tonight.

I saw these GORGEOUS, HUGE, AWESOME, pumpkin floral arrangements at MICHAEL'S today. They were like 100.00 event at 50% off ... A little out of my budget and besides that, I would want to make one. DUH. To my complete sadness, they didn't have the huge funkins anywhere, so I settled for a little more budget friendly version tonight.

Let's Start with the supply list:
I purchased a craft pumpkin at 50% off at Micheal's today....
BEWARE: if you get one and have brought any of your children along, they will want one too. This can be a good or a bad thing depending on how you look at it: I got them each one and then I could do this craft myself while they decorated their own, but I also then had to buy three extra!
 I also purchased, in their clearance bins outside the store, 60% off stems of flowers, cattails, and leaves. I also got this cute little scarecrow pick. (I let my youngest pick her favorite one.) 

In my craft stock at home, I also have a basket of floral and styrofoam . I often use white foam from boxes or packing to fill in areas in a floral arrangement where I know I won't be sticking floral stems in, but will need filler or support. 

Spool of wired ribbon. I had this from last year's CLEARANCE sales and it was tucked in my boxes! :)

I then cut, just like I would a real pumpkin, a zig zag cover out of the top and took the top off. I used a serrated knife, but the craft pumpkins are made to be usable with the usual safety pumpkin craft cutters. I was just too lazy to dig mine out. 

I then filled it to the level top with styrofoam and floral foam. 

Starting with the first stem of fall leaves, I begin to build the base of the arrangement. I am planning on making this one in a triangular shape, so the first stem I place is the tallest one I will want for my base leaves. I always start with the "greenery". (or in this case, the orangery??) This stuff ends up being the filler of the arrangement and often the least expensive floral you will buy. It fills the bulk of the arrangement and covers up the visible stems everywhere that would show of all the flowers without it. 

All filled in with "greenery"

Then I used this flower stem. I liked it because of the grasses in it. 

I cut each stem of the bunch into separate pieces: The grass, then the two different flower stems on that smaller bunch.

 I started with the grasses and filled them into the arrangement first, then trimmed them down so the grasses weren't so overwhelming. The photos show it before I trimmed it down and after.

I then filled it in with the cut flowers. I, again, start with the flowers that are less expensive and will make the best fillers. These are the ones that will have the biggest blooms outward and fill in the most space. 

 I then took these lantern flowers to place in for height and shape, as you can see in the individual cut stem, I could bend and shape the stem to give more specific shape to the arrangement.

And finally the cattails. These are for sharpness and contrast. The cattails will give a different dimension to the arrangement making it feel much more complete, in my opinion. 

Here it is with all the floral pieces in place: the cattails, lanterns, carnations, grasses and leaves. Now is a good time to take a look at the the arrangement from all sides to see if there is balance and any spots that need to be filled. Then I usually, just as a general rule, remove one item. This is just to be sure I am not overloading the arrangement. I often have the "waste not" mentality and use every stem when I could have a lighter arrangement without a few pieces. This step is always just a self-check that makes sure I only put what the arrangement needs in it. 

Then Aubrey's scarecrow goes in.

I made sure to place him slightly off center so that the balance won't be off. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but putting him smack dab in the middle would have made it so that ANYTHING off about the arrangement as far as even-ness goes would be glaringly obvious. This way, the arrangement takes a little more natural look to it instead of a straight up triangle shape.  

 MAKING THE BOW.
I learned how to make a bow from my Grandma Wistrand (my mother's mother). Below are the steps.

Wrap the ribbon around in  loops around as many times as you want for the  bow's "puffy" parts. I made enough passes (3 1/2) to make 7 puffy loops for my bow.  

Fold the long looped ribbon in half. 

Cut at the fold as shown.  

Put wire through the fold and twist once.

Place a long strip of ribbon in for the tail and twist twice this time. 

Start pulling the puffy loops apart and into the center to make a full bow. 

At this point, I always realize that I still never leave space for the bow.... so I take out two more stems of flowers or "greenery" and then make a space for the bow. This was extra important for this craft because I want to see enough of the "vase" for others to see that it is a pumpkin. If this was just a boring box, bowl, or vase, I may not care as much about where the bow goes in the arrangement. 

AND FINE! you have made your craft pumpkin fall floral arrangement! :) 

DONE! This arrangement now enjoys a spot on top of my wine cabinet as I showed you before in a previous blog! :)

Gonna try this??? email me your results! I love to see what others have created! missmidwestmn@hotmail.com